Vol. 17, No. 37	July 23, 1998

High finance

 Employees pool resources to play the stock market

"I was enthused at the idea of an investment club, even if I had to start it myself. Although my husband and I had made investments, I thought it was time for me to become educated about the stock market, do my own investing and not depend on others," she recalled.

She sent out a notice via campus e-mail for salaried staff to see if there were others interested in forming an investment club, not expecting much of a response. To her surprise, several women, mostly salaried staff members and some professionals, were interested, and the First State Partners Investment Club was born, with 20 current members. Members come from all over campus and range in age from a young mother to grandmothers, plus one retiree.

Johnston, who is the current investment first partner (the equivalent of president), and Renee Fisher, English, the former first partner, were the organizers.

"I had been interested in learning about investments, and by chance also had seen the Beardstown program. I thought, 'Wow! I can do this!' I sounded out my coworkers. But they were not interested. One of them mentioned seeing Cathy's previous e-mail message on the subject. Cathy and I met for lunch and clicked right away," Fisher said.

"One of the group's first official meetings was off campus in the office of a member's husband. That office, at best, could hold five people so we were sitting on the floor, in the doorway, wherever there was room," Johnston recalled. "Now, we have a larger room for our monthly meetings."

Members first became familiar with the Beardstown women's book, which provided a framework for the club and gave good suggestions on how to organize.

Another source was the National Association of Investors Corp. (NAIC), organized by four investment clubs in 1951 to encourage and assist the formation of such clubs.

It offers several publications and workshops to help investors. For a slight fee, the Delaware branch of NAIC assigns a person to the club to give help and suggestions for programs.

"The first order of the day was learning about stocks and investments, and we had to teach ourselves. We also had to accumulate some money to invest, and it was a year before we bought our first stocks," Johnston recalled.

Each member invests $25 a month in the club, and all dividends are reinvested.

"We started from ground zero. None of us knew much about investments, but we have learned so much and that is the true purpose of the club. Of course, we hope we have something to show for our efforts down the line," Fisher said.

Another task was finding a broker. The club interviewed several before deciding on a mother/ daughter team from A. G. Edwards. "They don't tell us what to do unless we ask for advice, but they meet with us about three times a year to go over our portfolio," Johnston said.

"We try to have a balanced portfolio and have invested in such companies as Cracker Barrel, MBNA, Intel, Worthington Steel, Global Marine and Walt Disney," she added.

According to the first club treasurer, Nelcenia Downer, residence life, the investment club has been a great learning tool. "We are all active members of the club with each member participating and contributing in some way. We divide into groups to study different stocks and types of businesses and then we discuss our options. At first, we were quite conservative but are taking more risks as we become more knowledgeable," she said.

It isn't all work, Downer pointed out. The group has gone on trips to places like the New York Stock Exchange, has seasonal parties and invites spouses to a once-a-year picnic.

"The partnership is more than an investment club," Fisher said. "It is an incredible group of women who have become friends and are a support group for each other."

Johnston said the main emphasis of the organization is education, but it's also a lot of fun. "I strongly feel that the success of our club has been and will continue to be built on the willingness and desire of each member to contribute. Everyone has opinions and is encouraged to express them, so the discussions on investments are lively, which is the way it should be," she said.

Both agree that they hope the club will inspire others to form similar groups.

The bottom line is how well the club has done financially. "We've done very well. We've bought good, solid stocks, and there have been no disasters. The basic concept is we buy for long-term investment and do our homework before we invest," Johnston said.

Other members are treasurer Martha Bailey, admissions; Alice Beardsley, development; Linda Diehl, registrar's office; Kathy Dingle, marine studies; Ann Draper, arts and science; Ruth Evans, student health; second partner Patricia Gerhart, marine studies; Lorena Hobart, marine studies; Barbara Johnston, admissions; Lee Korolyk, retired; Barbara Lawrence, scheduling; Julia Lloyd, geology; treasurer Joanne Marra, nursing; Joan McMullen, chemical engineering; Anne Powell, research office; Andrea Pugh, composites; and Peggie Stapley, registrar's office.

-Sue Swyers Moncure
Robert Cohen